IB: Advantage or Disadvantage?

[LouisXVI]

I read on McGill's website that IB students, who are 'enthusiastically recruited', are placed in the applicant pool of 'regular' students (U.S. HS, Canadian HS etc.)...

 

"Students at schools that offer the IB Diploma program as well as a regular high school curriculum will be considered for admission based on their high school grades, per the requirements for their applicant pool (i.e., Canadian high school, Ontario high school, and U.S. high school)."

 

...when they are considered for admission, but also that if IB students who completed Higher Level courses are admitted, they are given mandatory advanced placement.

 

Is this mandatory advanced placement really a bad thing, as I've been hearing?

 

And are IB students really 'enthusiastically recruited' and considered for admission along with their status as an achiever of the IB diploma?

[infinic]

I read on McGill's website that IB students, who are 'enthusiastically recruited', are placed in the applicant pool of 'regular' students (U.S. HS, Canadian HS etc.)...

 

 

 

...when they are considered for admission, but also that if IB students who completed Higher Level courses are admitted, they are given mandatory advanced placement.

 

Is this mandatory advanced placement really a bad thing, as I've been hearing?

 

And are IB students really 'enthusiastically recruited' and considered for admission along with their status as an achiever of the IB diploma?

 

Are you referring specifically about med or is it admission in general for undergrad? I believe that the quoted paragraph refers to OOP applicants since IB HS in Quebec only lead to a second cycle degree- which is worthless if you don’t pursue IB in a higher institution of education (Cegep… and worthless relatively speaking of course, i.e. asides from the enriching activities and the unique opportunities to grow as a person). For med-p, the only discrepancy, if I recall, is that they bonus the cumulative R-score for students graduating in IB by a small margin (0.5 or something), but I’m not in third cycle IB so my knowledge on that is limited…

 

For the enthusiastic part, from personal experience with friends currently in IB, it would be an absolute yes… anyone who could take 5 years of it and, on top of that, wanting an extra 2 years ought to be "enthusiastic" to say the least , jk...

[LouisXVI]

I'm referring specifically about med...that is why I posted in the 'McGill Medical School' board I'm completely unfamiliar with CEGEP or R scores etc...

[infinic]

Well, this is a little confusing since you’re obviously out of province and thus needs to complete an undergrad prior to your application to med school (i.e. IB is irrelevant academically since it is your gpa in undergrad that will count towards your admission) as oppose to an in province applicant that could apply directly to Med-p after completing third cycle IB- the quoted paragraph in your post actually refers to undergrad and not med. So are you trying to debate over whether or not you should attend an IB HS or do you already have an IB diploma and trying to see the pros and cons of it… or maybe are you actually out of country (just a wild guess)? Because I really can’t see a direct correlation between IB and Mcgill Med school (of course it would be an advantage if you have completed an ib diploma and have the necessary gpa in undergrad afterward in order to apply to med, but why ask for the advantage and disadvantage of IB then?). On the other hand, there is a correlation between IB and undergrad- for pros and cons of IB in undergrad… maybe you should refer to this thread: http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38924

But, to my knowledge, no MD faculties in Quebec will offer you an advance placement if you attended an IB high school… advance placement apply only to undergrad, but I wouldn’t trust my words in that one, call their office to verify .

[infinic]

But they might be “enthusiastically recruited” simply because of the fact that IB emphasizes ECs and personal development (such community spirit through volunteering experiences, sports, language classes and various activities that attempt to bring a certain sense of open-mindedness to other perspectives, culture, etc.). And, incidentally, so does McGill med school...

 

Just my 0.02$, hope that helped

[NES International School]

There are numerous advantages of IB

 

First, the IB curriculum is designed to insure a cohesive,comprehensive education for students, no matter where they live in the world.

Students who complete this program are preparing, not only for success in university, but also for success in life.

They gain a broader world view; follow in-depth approaches to the academic disciplines; and develop time management, problem solving, research, and organizational skills that will remain with them long after the IB experience is over.

An additional benefit is that student work is assessed over a two-year period using internationally accepted performance standards.

Students who succeed in the IB Program do better than any other group of students in university level work. As a group, IB students earn higher average SAT scores and maintain higher grade point averages at universities than students who have not attended IB schools.

Furthermore, most university admissions officials expect students, particularly scholarship applicants, to take the most challenging courses of which they are capable in high school.

Also, students who take IB courses learn to see the world from a variety of perspectives, to examine different points of view, and to see themselves as part of the world community.

The International Baccalaureate is quite simply the most exciting high school academic program offered today.

It challenges students to move out of their comfort zone - to undertake projects and areas of study that are new to them. It challenges them to think in sophisticated ways about the connections between ideas in different areas of study and puts learning in an international context.

[jadb91]

From personal experience, I would advise against doing the IB if you're considering McGill med. I personally did the A-levels, got 30 advanced credits, 9 of which were given based on one language class (they will give you 30 credits regardless). The problem is that these advanced credits will eat up your electives, and still leave you needing to take some science pre-reqs when you get to undergrad. They will also take a year off your undergrad, which essentially means less time to prepare for med school and adjust to the study tactics you need to do well.

[Corie]

The one problem that my friends experience is that they're courses they are taking each semester are all screwed up and not following what everyone else is following. They're taking a mixture of courses and sometimes the courses they need to take are not offered in the current semester because advanced standing credits are granted.

 

Keep in mind that McGill med wants you to take a full course load. thats 14 or 15 credits a semester. (or more). You may have more trouble selecting courses to meet this 15 credits a semester policy.

[scissortail]

I personally did IB in high school. I actually don't think it's a great decision if you want to go to McGill for undergrad. Unlike most other university, McGill forces you to take the transfer credit. This creates a number of problem like the post above me mentioned, including earlier graduation and difficulty choosing courses. You may also not want to start off your undergrad taking second year courses while you are adjusting to university life.

 

Another HUGE HUGE disadvantage is if you want to apply to American med schools. Many American med schools require one year of English, organic chem, general chem, physics, and sometimes math. AND MOST DO NOT ACCEPT IB OR AP CREDIT AS PRE REQUISITES. This means you better take a second or third year organic/general chem or physics to meet these requirements, which are of course more difficult. Ignore this if you aren't applying to american med schools, canadians schools are more relaxed on the prerequisites.

[Cass]

IB does have its ups and downs. For Canadian medical schools, you often need a HL of 6 and up in order to be granted a transfer credit for a prerequisite course (ex: UBC and Alberta). This can be advantageous for an applicant because he/she wouldn't need to take any university courses corresponding to the prerequisites. However, I found that even though my university was able to grant me a transfer credit for general chemistry (I got a HL of 5), UBC med school stated that I would still have to take higher level chemistry courses (ex: thermodynamics, analytical chem etc) other than organic chemistry in order to satisfy their general chemistry requirement. Thus, this can be a tradeoff especially if the upper year chemistry courses are exceedingly difficult and thus can affect your gpa.

 

In regards to American schools, email them if they accept IB credits because so far for the ones I've contacted, all of them have said that they do recognize IB credits and as long as it shows up on your transcript that you were granted a transfer credit, you would be fine.